SouthFlorida.com | City Link Magazine

As the lights dimmed inside the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, an instrumental track by Jay-Z crescendoed from the loudspeakers, the audience rose to its feet, and a chant seldom heard at hip-hop concerts enveloped the arena: "Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus!"

Held two nights before Christmas, the Jesus or Die! 2 concert drew more than 2,000 Christian hip-hop fans to testify, worship and rap along to the God-fearing lyrics of acts such as Trip Lee, LeCrae, Rey Cruz, GRITS and DJ Morphiziz. Predominantly Hispanic, the concertgoers carried Bibles, wore T-shirts bearing slogans such as "Reign Supreme" and "Alpha-Omega," and sipped nonalcoholic beverages. But if you closed your ears to the righteous and pious wordplay that emanated from the stage, you would have been hard-pressed to separate the performers' beats from those of, say, Trick Daddy or Rick Ross.

Evangelists have been using mass means of communication to spread the word of God ever since Moses first received a stone-tablet text message from that burning bush. And now, true believers are attempting to reach out to Christian youth and their secular counterparts through hip-hop culture and music -- minus, of course, all that talk of gats, guns and bitches. Gregory Polanco, the creator of Jesus or Die! and the founder of the Christian-music label Lord Productions, is among those who believe hip-hop can save young souls.

"I took my kids to youth night at church one day, and all the kids were texting on their phones, not paying attention to the pastor. They were bored," Polanco recalls. "I told my wife that these kids need something that speaks to them and that they can relate to -- the jerseys, fitted caps, the clothes and, most of all, the music."

The first Jesus or Die! show, the title of which Polanco admits to cribbing from Diddy's "Vote or Die!" campaign, took place in 2005 at El Buen Samaritano church in Homestead. Nearly 1,500 people showed up, and recognizing the appeal of the music, Polanco decided to hold his next event in a real concert venue.

"I think Christian hip-hop is probably one of the fastest-growing genres of music today," observes Derrick Baker, the program director of South Florida radio station 99 Jamz (WEDR-FM). "The way [the songs] are produced and how they sound, it's not your grandma's Christian music. If you didn't know any better, you would think it's a lot like the secular rap you hear on the radio."

To date, the most popular Christian hip-hop song to have cracked Top 40 radio is 2004's "Jesus Walks," by the decidedly mainstream Kanye West. Although the rapper doesn't have a problem getting airplay, West ironically used the song to address a perceived anti-Christian bias on the part of the hip-hop industry. "They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus/That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes," West's lyrics assert. "But if I talk about God/My record won't get played."

Today, however, Baker says Christian hip-hop has become increasingly popular among radio listeners. In fact, he points out, the song that received the most spins on 99 Jamz last year was Kirk Franklin's gospel-based hit "Looking for You." "I think because of the sound and the beat of Christian hip-hop," Baker relates, "there is a very good chance that mainstream radio will open up to it."

Dallas-born rapper Trip Lee, who records for the Reach label, certainly hopes it will open up to him. A 2006 high-school graduate who also last year released his debut album, If They Only Knew, believes that just as most secular rappers glorify material objects and the street lifestyle, Christian rappers should glorify their own obsession: God.

"When I got serious about my faith, I realized the music I was listening to wasn't representing the life I wanted to live," says the 17-year old Lee, whose drawling rap style evokes that of T.I. and Ludacris as he delivers sermonizing but catchy metaphors. "Your lifestyle should always reflect Jesus Christ -- even your music."

Onstage at the BankUnited Center, Rey Cruz, who records on Miami's Tri-Unit Entertainment label, began his set with the familiar strains of Rick Ross' "Hustlin'," which he had given a Christian makeover. "Every day, I'm worshippin'/Every day I'm worshippin'," Cruz rapped. "I'm tryin' to hustle souls, y'all!" At the song's chorus, the crowd enthusiastically joined in: "Hustle real, God/Hustle, hustle real, God!"

"I believe in taking the words of God and making it into something the kids can understand with hip-hop," the 30-year-old Cruz says following his performance. "It's not like I'm going out there and telling kids that those rims on their cars are bad and come from the devil. Depending on how you got the rims, they may. But it's more about saying, 'Yeah, I got rims, and God gave them to me.' You should always be thankful to God for what you are blessed with."

Miles Fischer, a 21-year-old pastor with the Extreme Fire Youth Ministries of the nondenominational Embassy of the Kingdom of God in Sunrise, has coined a term for Christian hip-hop fans: Kingdom Krunk. "Kingdom Krunk is when you have some teenagers who are a little bit crazy and a little bit funky," he explains, "those who wear our beliefs right out there [and are] ready to go out there and claim God's kingdom."

Fischer says he's aware that the Bible and Christianity are rarely considered cool by hip-hop fans but adds that one goal of his ministry is to convince people otherwise. "The world is not cool. The world gives you dreams that are empty, so you go out and drink. And it doesn't solve anything, so you have to go out and drink again," Fischer insists. "Jesus was not a guy who wasn't cool. Jesus was always in the mix of things, at all the gatherings, and he was popular. People flocked to him."

During intermission at Jesus or Die! 2, Frank Hechavarria, a 30-something pastor with El Rey Jesús church in southwestern Miami-Dade County, was greeted like a rock star when he walked onstage in a crisp linen jacket and jeans to deliver a brief sermon. As he led the audience in a round of call-and-response prayers, the Christian hip-hop equivalent of a hype man appeared beside him and proceeded to scream, cry and frantically writhe on the floor. The event took on the air of a tent revival, with members of the crowd rushing the stage, some of them wildly waving their hands and speaking in tongues.

After Hechavarria and his hype man exited the stage, El Rey Jesús church member Jackie Salcedo burst into tears and hugged two nearby concertgoers. "For the past 10 years, I have been listening to Christian hip-hop instead of secular music," the wet-faced 22-year-old said. "The beat is raw; the music and the rhythm are there. But it's the life-changing message that I love. These are songs that change your life."

Yet as much as the promoters and attendees of Jesus or Die! 2 may have wanted their show to resemble a mainstream hip-hop event, its conclusion was as far-removed from the typical rap concert as Toby Keith. Following a rousing performance by Philadelphia rapper Da' TRUTH, the houselights rose, Bibles returned to their owners' purses and backpacks, and two men in "Jesus or Die!" T-shirts hugged each other goodbye.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus has left the building.